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Worcester County buys ice rink to expand holiday season opportunities for fun

Looking to give Worcester County residents a unique experience and add to the holidays season, county officials have purchased a new portable synthetic ice rink that they hope to debut in December.

The new ice rink will cost the county about $50,000 and, Tom Perlozzo, director of Recreation and Parks, said the county hopes to make it available to the public ahead of Christmas.

"We have scheduled an event called Elves on the Loose in the John Walter Smith Recreation Center for Dec. 20 from 6-8 p.m. and we are hoping to unveil the ice rink at that time, but that's going to be dependent on whether we get the rink in time," Perlozzo said.

The new ice rink was approved by the Worcester County Commissioners on Nov. 19. Before the commissioners approved the purchase, questions about cost and maintenance requirements were raised.

The rink should require very little maintenance, Perlozzo said, and approximately 50 people should be able to glide around the 52 foot by 32 foot ice rink at a time. When the rink isn't in use, the county plans to store it at the county recreation center.

The recreation and parks department has been considering a few new ideas, one of them being a portable ice rink, for more than a year. After some cost-savings elsewhere in the department's budget, Perlozzo said he finally went before the commissioners with his plan.

"The department is trying to capitalize on special events. We were looking for a unique, buzz-worthy piece of equipment that could allow all of the families in Worcester County to have an opportunity to experience ice skating that they can't get in the county, especially in the southern end," Perlozzo said.

The only ice skating options before in the region were in Salisbury at the amphitheater and in Ocean City at the Carousel Oceanfront Hotel.

Since the ice rink will be portable it will give the county options for where and when it gets used. Perlozzo said the recreation and parks department are looking at using the ice rink year round and for special uses like curling.

The rink may also be able to support itself financially with some potential sponsorship opportunities the county is currently negotiating, Perlozzo said.

He added, "I fully expect that at one point in time the rink will pay for itself."

"We've been working on something that we might want to do in the summer in Snow Hill and potentially call it a Christmas in July event that could stay up," Perlozzo said. "Again, we hope to use it with the Worcester County fair, Blessings of the Combine, we want to be in Berlin, Pocomoke for 4th Fridays so the sky is the limit."